Page 7 of Shielding Soledad

“Oh,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “I guess that would be okay.”

I could tell it wasn’t what she wanted. She probably thought I feared being left alone with our son. That was mildly frustrating, but I’d have to deal with it, since I wasn’t prepared to explain myself.

“Go for a walk, Frankie,” Soledad said to the dog, who wagged her tail and pranced around the yard.

“Sit,” I commanded, and the dog sat instantly. We’d been working on some basic commands. She was still at a good age for training, since Frankie was little more than a puppy. She seemed quick to learn, eager to please. I had a sudden thought. Could Frankie be trained to protect Soledad and Luke if the need arose? She was smaller than the average guard dog, but she’d be better than nothing. I knew a little about that type of K-9 training, and I pledged to look into it more. It might be another way of keeping my little family safe.

“I’ll put Luke in the stroller,” Soledad said and disappeared back into the house.

“Heel,” I said, and the dog responded. “Good girl. We’ve got some work to do.”

A few minutes later we set out to walk to a nearby park. Soledad pushed the stroller, and I held Frankie on a leash. It did feel good to be out, but I was still watchful, scanning our surroundings. Lots of people were out due to the nice weather. Quite a few cars were parked along the street. How easy would it be for Bruce to have my house under surveillance? It was a small town, so strangers tended to stick out—but he was a trained SEAL. He knew how to set up surveillance without drawing attention to himself.

“Hi, Gina,” Soledad called to our neighbor, who had been over several times to visit Luke, bringing meals for the adults and gifts for the infant. I owed her a huge thank you.

“Lovely to see you all out,” Gina said, pausing to peek into the stroller at Luke. “So cute. Have fun.”

“Good to see you, Mr. Crandall,” Soledad said to a gray-haired man who came out of a house to pick up his newspaper. He waved before going back in.

Soledad nodded or commented to three other people before we reached the first corner.

“Do you know everybody?” I asked as we turned onto the next street. I’d grown up in this town and knew almost no one, except to recognize them vaguely in passing. I knew most of the people in town by sight, but knowing them by name? No. Not unless they were someone I knew from school. But that was Soledad for you. She wasn’t even from here originally—she’d moved to town just a couple of years ago. But she was friendly and trusting—which, in my experience, meant that people took advantage of you. If nothing else, those qualities made you vulnerable, something I was never willing to be.

“I don’t think so. Why?” She smiled at me.

“No reason,” I said, letting it go but acutely aware of the differences between us. From the outside, we looked like the perfect young family. Mom, dad, baby, dog. For a second, I allowed myself to consider the possibility. What if that’s what we truly were? What if I had a relationship with Soledad beyond being her baby daddy? What if we planned to raise our son together as a couple?

We were doing that for now, but I couldn’t say how long it would last. Everything was so up in the air. I’d shoved my re-enlistment paperwork aside, planning to wait until the last minute to make the decision. But with Luke in my life, I was leaning toward not agreeing to another four-year hitch. I would miss too much of Luke’s childhood if I was gone on long missions as I had been in the past. I might not know how to be a dad, but I knew enough to know that a big part of being a good parent was being around—making sure my kid knew I was there for him, no matter what. My mom hadn’t pulled that part off, and I still struggled to forgive her for it, even all these years later.

Soledad, on the other hand, was an amazing mom. And she deserved to be co-parenting with someone who would pull his weight rather than leaving everything on her. She had always hated it when I was gone and out of touch, and I could only imagine it would bother even more now that Luke was in the picture.

I pulled myself back to reality and shoved away an impossible “what if” daydream. In the long run, Soledad and I would have to figure out a way to share Luke. I wasn’t sure what that would look like, but for now, with the Bruce Lewis situation what it was, I knew for sure that I couldn’t leave them unprotected. They were only in danger because of me. But if Bruce wanted to get to them, he’d have to go through me first.

“This is where I found Frankie.” Soledad pointed to a spot along the curb, interrupting my worries. “I still don’t understand how someone could be so heartless.” She bent over Frankie, rubbing her head. “We were both lucky that day, weren’t we, girl? You got a second chance, and I got the best dog in the world.”

“She does appear to be a good one,” I commented when Soledad straightened.

“She’s awesome.” Understanding a compliment when she heard one, Frankie cozied up to Soledad, wagging her tail and begging for more attention. Soledad bent down again, her hair falling to one side and exposing the line of her long neck. She turned to me, giving me a smile, and my breath hitched. Somehow, she was more beautiful than she’d been when we were dating. Time and circumstances hadn’t dimmed any of my desire for her. I wanted to reach for her.

“We should head home,” I said, snapping myself away from thoughts that had no business being in my head.

“Sure, that’s probably far enough for Luke’s first time in a stroller. I think he likes it, though,” Soledad said.

Luke had looked around as we walked, making happy gurgling sounds. But all of the excitement must have tired him out, because by the time we returned to the house, he had fallen asleep. Soledad put a finger to her lips before gently lifting him from the stroller and carrying him upstairs.

“Some water for you,” I said to Frankie after watching Soledad climb the stairs, her lean, athletic body keeping my attention until she went into the nursery. My thoughts from a few minutes before came back in full force. Frankie’s damp nose nudging me brought me back to reality, and I took her to the kitchen and gave her a fresh bowl of water, which she noisily lapped up.

“Back porch?” Soledad suggested, coming into the room with the portable baby monitor in her hand. “I think he’ll sleep a little longer, and it’s so beautiful out.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “I’ll get us some drinks and meet you out there.”

She went past me and outside. I couldn’t stop myself from watching her through the screen door. She stretched her arms over her head, exposing the skin of her midriff, and lifted her face to the sun before settling a hip on the railing. I needed something to cool myself off. From the fridge I grabbed a craft ginger ale she liked and a beer for myself.

“Thanks,” she said, when I joined her on the porch and handed over the bottle.

Without hesitation, she closed her eyes, tipped the bottle back, and took a long drink. I couldn’t tear my gaze from the way the muscles worked in her throat. God, I wanted to kiss down her neck, to the edge of her shirt and beyond. But things were in a strange limbo between us. We’d broken up, gone our separate ways. When I’d headed off for that last mission, I had assumed that I’d probably only ever see her again in passing. It was too much of a small town to hope that our paths would never cross, but I certainly hadn’t imagined that I’d come back home and end up living with her. In some ways, our relationship was more intimate than it had ever been. In others, it was like we were just roommates who happened to share a kid. It was confusing as hell, and I had no idea what she wanted.

She opened her eyes and set the bottle aside, but I couldn’t stop looking at her. I didn’t care when she caught me and her lips tipped up in a tiny, flirtatious smile that filled me with hope. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who wanted back a little of what we’d had before. I stepped closer, raising my hand to trail my fingers from her angular cheekbone to the line of her jaw. And because I’d lost all control of myself, I continued the caress down her exposed neck. Her breath quickened as I leaned in slowly until my lips met hers.

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